The two-day event, taking place in Croatia for the first time, has pooled representatives of the European Commission, the Commission's Delegation in Croatia, and more than 150 regional and national representatives from European Union member and nonmember countries, including countries covered by the Stabilisation and Association process.
Croatia's national coordinator for Interreg Davor Cilic said regional cooperation was one of the Croatian government's political priorities and an obligation stemming from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
He said Croatia is an active participant in all three Interreg programmes. Interreg III A consists of transborder cooperation programmes with Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Albania, as well as trilateral cooperation programmes with Hungary and Slovenia. Interreg III B CADSES refers to transnational cooperation between state, regional and local authorities, while Interreg III C is dedicated to interregional cooperation.
The conference was organised by the Croatian European Integration Ministry and the Greek Economy and Finance Ministry, the CADSES Transnational Contact Centre.
Croatia joined the CADSES programme in Budapest on 25 March 2004, which opened the possibility of equal participation in the selection of projects to be financed from EU funds. Croatia formally gained access to three EU pre-accession funds, PHARE, ISPA, and SAPARD, on October 6, when the European Commission's pre-accession strategy for Croatia was released.
The Interreg initiative was launched in 1990.